Paris, When It Sizzles With Hate

Is the French Jewish establishment in denial about anti-Semitism? A portrait of a community under siege.

Marseille, France -- Evelyne Sitruk always envisioned Marseille as a model of tolerance and diversity amid stodgy, stratified France, a Mediterranean port of 800,000 with a cosmopolitan mix of Italians, Armenians, some 70,000 Jews and North Africans.

Now she finds it downright hostile.

"I was strolling with my family at Pesach," she recalls, "and for the first time in my life, someone spat on me and called me a ‘sale Juive' [dirty Jew]. It was like a slap in the face."

Marseille may be Le Pen country -- one in four voted last month for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the ultrarightist leader who inveighs against immigrants and has called the Holocaust "a detail of history" -- but the aggressor was an elderly Arab.

With her lavender beret, dangling silver earrings, checkered scarf, black and purple stockings, and henna-colored hair in a Dutch-boy cut, Sitruk looks more Berkeley than Brooklyn, although she is Orthodox, 48, and the sister-in-law of France's grand rabbi. A Socialist active in politics, she serves on the city council, volunteers as president of the Jewish library and teaches public school.

"I always identified first as a French citizen and as a Jew," she says. Her Jewish identity remained private, as lobbying and "communautarisme" [single-identity issues] are frowned upon.

Lately, the label "Jew" sticks to her, not just on the streets as a venomous epithet. At a rally against Le Pen, a city council member accosted her with an almost accusatory question -- "So where is your grand rabbi?" -- as though she, as a Jew, was responsible for producing him. Political discussions often stop when she enters the room.

"If you're Jewish, everyone assumes that you support [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon," Sitruk says. " How many times have I heard ‘Juif, c'est pareil,' [Jew, Sharon, it's the same thing]?"

STATE OF SIEGE

French Jews have seen synagogues ablaze, cemeteries vandalized and walls painted with swastikas as they face the worst spate of anti-Semitism since World War II.

Anxiety is gripping French Jews. They've seen synagogues ablaze, cemeteries vandalized and walls painted with swastikas as they face what observers have called the worst spate of anti-Semitism since World War II. Hate crimes rose from just one in 1998 to more than 700 in the first five months of 2002. Observant Jews live in a state of siege. Police now patrol in front of the Jewish schools. Graffiti and swastikas appear almost nightly in Strasbourg. Rabbis exhort congregants in Marseille to cover their kipas in public. Jewish men guard the front of synagogues during services, walkie-talkies in hand, revolvers hidden in their pocket. Parents forbid their sons to play soccer because of a vicious attack in Paris. And the number of Jews considering leaving for Israel has skyrocketed in recent months, according to the Jewish Agency office in Paris.

In two dozen interviews conducted in French with Jews in Paris, Marseille and Strasbourg during a two-week period in mid-May, a portrait emerges of a complex French Jewish community splintered by the specter of anti-Semitism. The Jews of France became unified briefly in fighting Le Pen. With that threat over, the ongoing anti-Semitic events have exposed differences along fault lines of religious observance, social class, politics, age and origins.

The debate, a fierce one, is now centering on how to respond to anti-Semitism among Muslims, the anti-Israel bias in the media and security for Jews on college campuses.

The government's refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem was almost as shocking as the violence itself.

The government's initial reaction to the wave of anti-Semitic incidents -- a refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem -- was almost as shocking as the violence itself. On its heels came Le Pen's surprising success in the first round of presidential elections.

Most recently, a controversial letter by Socialist Party adviser Paul Boniface exposed what many Jews fear is France's new political reality: politicians are wooing Arab Muslims who outnumber France's 600,000 Jews 10 to 1. The largest population of Muslims in Europe, French Arabs rallied around Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat after the second intifada in 2000. After Sept. 11, many proclaimed Osama bin Laden their hero.

The pro-Palestinian stance, tinged with virulent anti-Americanism, has spread beyond the "cites," or housing projects. The No. 1-selling paperback in France -- "L'Effroyable Imposture" ("Extreme Fraud") by Thierry Meyssan -- alleges that the U.S. government faked the Pentagon crash with a bomb as part of a larger conspiracy to create justification for an invasion of Afghanistan.

Since Sept. 11, there's also more blatant discrimination against Jews. "It's no longer politically incorrect to be openly anti-Semitic," says Edith Bismuth, communications director of Marseille's Council of Jewish Communities (CRIF), an umbrella organization for secular French Jewish groups.

Turned away at a beauty parlor she had frequented for years, one young woman was told, "We don't want to take care of you people anymore." When confronted, the owner retorted, "Yes, I'm anti-Semitic and what are you going to do about it?" The young woman filed a complaint under the Gayssot law of 1990. That law punishes those who incite racial hatred, support Holocaust revisionism or slander with racist or anti-Semitic insults.

HATE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

Despite the Gayssot law, hate crimes target Jews nearly everywhere. In Creteil, a suburb of 82,000 outside Paris, a third of the residents are Jewish and a third Muslim. The town boasts six kosher restaurants, more than in Strasbourg or Toulouse. Residents lived in relative peace until the new intifada began some 20 months ago.

David Kessel, a 47-year-old artist, believes that some of the violence could have been avoided had the town's mayor reacted to the first hate crime 18 months ago. Kessel asked the mayor to intervene when Arabs harassed a Jewish family living in their midst and burned the car of friends who were visiting for Shavuot. The mayor, like other French political leaders, minimized the incident as "merely an act of juvenile delinquency."

In the last few months, Creteil has been the scene of several incidents: a Hebrew school classroom was torched, the synagogue's glass windows were smashed and tzedaka boxes were stolen. Last month, Jews found an anti-Semitic tract in their mailboxes.

"We're anguished about whether to stay in France," says Kessel, an Orthodox Jew whose father survived a hanging in Auschwitz and the death march to Mauthausen. "We don't have our place here anymore."

Jews like Kessel and Sitruk feel betrayed. As they see it, the French government shrugs off responsibility and Jewish leaders won't push, denounce or threaten.

"The Jewish community," says Sitruk with sadness, "is not very politically hip. It votes for the candidate who seems to support Israel the most and avoids thinking of the big picture."

One problem lies in identifying the source of the threat. To many, the resurgence of anti-Semitism appears to come from the right -- with Le Pen's showing of 18 percent in the second round of French presidential elections. But much of the hate flows from the left. Young radicals in checkered keffiyah headdress shout intifada slogans and accuse not only Israel but French Jews of racism and genocide.

"We belonged to the left, but now we've had to break off," says Yael Boussidan, a Conservative Jew in Strasbourg.

"It's the first time we sit on the bench of the accused," adds Michel Benoilid, a high school teacher.

But others believe that most of the vandalism comes from disaffected young Arabs. Felix Mosbacher, 64, president of Mouvement Juif Liberal de France, a Reform synagogue in Paris with 1,400 families that recently experienced vandalism, notes that the upsurge in vandalism tracks the second intifada.

Mosbacher, a Harvard MBA, is careful to point out that the cause is not black or white. But he observes that the intifada gives many young Arabs of North African families, who feel neither French nor part of North African Arab culture, a group with which to identify. This is anti-Semitism, says Mosbacher, but the French government doesn't like to apply the label.

"They would like to imagine France is one society. It's not," he says.

"I don't see that things have deteriorated in France so that you can see anti-Semitism or feel it."

Not all Jews agree. Some Jewish intellectuals, leftist politicians and journalists ally themselves with the plight of Arabs. The most assimilated and least religious Jews feel as comfortable as ever in France.

"I don't see that things have deteriorated in France so that you can see anti-Semitism or feel it," says cancer researcher Marc Lipinski, 48, a member of the Green Party and of the city council in Vanves, a town of 25,000 outside of Paris.

Eric de Rothschild, 61, president of the Rothschild Foundation, worries about anti-Semitic incidents in the suburbs but notes that "statistically, non-Jews are targeted as often as Jews."

"The Jewish community in France," says de Rothschild, "has reacted as forcefully as it should, without resorting to hysteria and threats."

Older French Jews side with de Rothschild. Mostly Ashkenazim, they minimize recent acts, clinging to optimism reinforced by their own experiences. After all, they survived the Holocaust in France. They find comfort in the fact that fewer Jews from France -- 76,000, or 25 percent -- were exterminated than from other countries.

The younger Sephardim, more religious, often less wealthy, grouped in ghettos next to Arab neighborhoods, take issue with this view. Since they moved from North Africa after the 1960s, they have always felt like second-class citizens, slightly suspicious of a government that betrayed them when it abandoned its colonies.

The hate crimes caught everyone by surprise. "We asked for government protection for the first time since World War II," says Bismuth of Marseille.

"We were certain that synagogue burnings were part of our somber history, far in the past, and we were all wrong," echoes Pierre Levy, 60, CRIF's regional delegate in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg, home to 15,000 Jews and Europe's first Yiddish Institute, represents a case in point. The Jewish community had become complacent. Until recently, it had to press members to attend yearly organizational dinners.

"Our grandfathers were already very bleu-blanc-rouge, very patriotic," says Levy, who fought in Algeria with the French Army. "French Jews have always identified as French Jewish citizens with the accent on French ‘citoyens.'

"Over the past few months, there has been a ‘remise en cause,' a questioning of identity. People are asking themselves, ‘Am I French?' And the answer is a resounding, ‘Yes. Yes, we are French, but we must be more vigilant.' "

NEW FORM OF ANTI-SEMITISM

Nevertheless, some Jews assail this vision. They believe that the Jewish establishment remains in denial.

Freddy Raphael, professor of sociology at the Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg and a leftist, believes the Jewish leaders in France underestimate the deep crisis it now faces.

"They have very little contact with most Muslims and they've developed the myth of an assault against a Jewish fortress like the Masada," he says.

The Jewish leadership has not acknowledged Judeophobia, as outlined by political scientist Pierre-Andre Taguieff in his book "The New Judeophobia."

"It's a new form of anti-Judaism in which the Jew becomes the archetype of the oppressor in collusion with American imperialism," says Raphael.

Taguieff, a non-Jewish intellectual, also believes that French officials minimize the hate crimes against Jews and the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism. "Into this supposedly calm, sympathetic, open Islam seeps a religious fervor that hides fury and rage," says Taguieff in an interview at a Paris brasserie.

"When synagogues burn," he says, "it is always a sign of a grave danger."

"When synagogues burn," he says, "it is always a sign of a grave danger."

Few Jews in power admit to any grave danger. They also reject any outside intervention. In fact, they resent Israel's call to French Jews to make aliyah. They attack the American Jewish Congress for suggesting a boycott of the Cannes Film Festival and French products. Even Raphael rages at outsiders.

"We reject this meddlesome intrusion that inflames and infuriates," he says.

French Holocaust survivors are as furious as the rest. "There's no need to panic, just to pay attention," says Alexandre Danemans, 72, a retired businessman and Holocaust survivor.

Born in Poland, Danemans, married to a non-Jew, remained a Jew without much community involvement. He lives in the tony 16th arrondissement, the Park Avenue of Paris. His elegant bookcases are lined with the Serge Klarsfeld books listing concentration camp transports and several Bibles, but also tomes about Hinduism and Buddhism.

"I don't announce that I'm Jewish nor do I deny it," Danemans says. "In my close circle of friends, we just don't discuss religion. French Jewry clings to the old principle that the less noise you make, the better off you are."

His optimism stems from his wartime experiences. Barely 12, Danemans watched as his parents were arrested in Tours to be shipped off to Auschwitz. He found a safe haven with a Catholic family in a neighboring town. They sheltered him, passing him off as a nephew for the entire war.

Gilbert May, 77, born in Strasbourg into one of Alsace's oldest Jewish families, owes his life to a protective archbishop. Like Danemans, he has seen worse periods and believes this one will blow over.

May, vice president of the Jewish organization LICRA (League against Racism), joined the French Resistance in 1939, eventually was arrested by the Gestapo and landed in Struthof, France's only concentration camp. He shared a cell with the archbishop and a Bourbon prince. When all three were shipped to Dachau, the archbishop had May participate in Mass to protect him.

"I think Alsace has always been anti-Semitic. One of the expressions used every day here is ‘You're worse than a Jew,' " May says.

As a soccer referee in the 1950s, he was often called a "dirty Jew." At his urging, the league suspended name callers for a month, with little effect.

May never shied away from controversy. When he joined the Resistance, the Jewish community shuddered with apprehension. "They were afraid they would all get arrested because of me," says May.

More recently, as guest speaker about the Holocaust at a public school, May advised a Jewish child who shyly whispered, "What do I do when kids shove me and insult me?"

May's answer was simple: "You have to beat them up. It's not a matter of courage but of survival." Jewish organizers of the event were none too pleased.

‘WORST FEAR IS INDIFFERENCE'

Such diffidence among community leadership is typical. Because of it, the impetus for change has come from Jewish students, frontline targets of harassment.

"My male friends are kicked and pushed when they wear kipot," says Astrid Pouleur, 23, a university student in Marseille. "I feel that no one listens to me anymore when I talk about politics, as though my being Jewish pollutes my ideas."

The Jewish students' organization, UEJF, recently joined forces with SOS Racisme -- a respected anti-racism group headed by an Algerian -- to co-write a white paper on anti-Semitic acts over the past two years.

"Our worst fear is indifference," says Eric Wahed, 24, president of the UEJF's Marseille chapter, who organizes rallies and counters pro-Palestinian propaganda on campus. He was stunned just last month as he watched the synagogue in Caillol burn to the ground.

"We have to mobilize and fight back," Wahed says. "Granted, this is not 1939, but we have come to another crossroads for Jews in France."

In several cities, small committees have formed to strategize. In Strasbourg, six men and women crowd around Janine Elkouby's dining room table in a spacious apartment a few blocks from the Grande Synagogue. The group formed in November to counter media "disinformation" about Israel, brainstorm with the local Jewish students' organization, revamp the Jewish radio station and organize rallies against anti-Semitism.

Elkouby, 55, a high school literature teacher, felt anguished and isolated after a Jewish school was burned.

"I always felt very French and very Jewish, proud of this double allegiance," she says. "After the anti-Semitic acts in our neighborhood, I started using the word ‘they' instead of ‘we' when I was talking about the French people."

During an anti-Le Pen demonstration, Elkouby joined her husband's university group, under its banner, but felt uncomfortable as they chanted the Marseillaise. "I felt I belonged with them, but not completely," she says.

Robert Fedida, a 45-year-old businessman of Moroccan origin, feels discouraged by the increasing number of hate crimes and the government's feeble response. "It feels like a bulldozer aimed at us," he says. "We can limit the damage, but we're the little machine fighting a huge bulldozer."

Claude Sabbah, director of ORT, believes that small, informal groups can make a difference. "Traditional Jewish organizations know how to budget, allocate funds and organize events. But that's not enough. We have to think out of the box," he says.

So far, that hasn't happened. Shimon Samuels, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris, points to the contrast between two recent rallies in Paris. The rally against anti-Semitism drew 200,000 but no major political candidates. The anti-Israel demonstration boasted a coalition of Trotskyites, anarchists, Greens, atheists, homeless advocates, migrants, AIDS activists and anti-globalization groups, as well as Jose Bove, the anti-McDonald's activist and Ramallah supporter of Arafat.

Fragile Muslim-Jewish relations are unraveling as well. Muslim members of Strasbourg's Jewish soccer club quit, claiming players support Israel too fervently. Murielle Schor, a dental surgeon and candidate for deputy in the 17th arrondissement, patched together a joint commission of Jews and Muslims. The two groups tried to write a charter, but Muslims insisted on language that criticized Israel for violating human rights.

"We got along well as long as we had a common enemy in Le Pen," says Schor. "Now the moderates are afraid of incurring the wrath of radical ‘integristes.' "

Tasteless jokes are also making the rounds, says Samuels. One begins: Who are America's three greatest super-heroes? Superman, who flies over tall buildings; Spiderman, who climbs along tall buildings; and Musul-man (French for Muslim), who blows up tall buildings.

Individual friendships with Arabs are also chilling. An Arab friend had commissioned a painting from Kessel of a village near Bethlehem, with two women in long robes walking through the streets. The friend became more belligerent in their usual debates about the Middle East. The next day he told Kessel that he could not be his friend or pay him for the painting. Kessel brought the painting back to his studio and, in a fit of pique, painted a mezuzah on the door of each Arab home.

THE MEDIA WAR

Kessel and others blame French TV for some of the tension. The French media -- from its wire service AFP to Le Monde to French TV -- have portrayed Palestinian suicide bombers with sympathy as martyrs and "resistants" during Israeli "occupation" and Israelis as "colons" (colonialists). These happen to be loaded words in France, which is still expiating its dubious role in the Holocaust.

For years, Dr. Jean Daniel Flaysakier kept mum about his colleagues' pro-Palestinian bias at France 2 and other national television networks. Recently, France 2's reporting became even more one-sided. For days the network broadcast allegations of massacres of thousands of Palestinians in Jenin but ignored contrary information from nongovernmental organizations. The network also gave an inaccurate toll of Israeli losses. A few days later, the network reported that only 50 Palestinians died.

Flaysakier, 50, a prominent medical commentator on France 2, exploded at work in response to a colleague airing two sound bites after a bombing of a Palestinian school in East Jerusalem. His colleague had used a sound bite from a West Bank settler saying, "If the army doesn't do its duty, we will have to defend ourselves." That quote, says Flaysakier, had nothing to do with the bombing and was taken out of context.

"I burst out and said, ‘I'm fed up with this reporter and his obvious bias." The reporter screamed back, "You are attacking me?"

"Yes," said Flaysakier, "because you're a militant, not a journalist."

Flaysakier's outburst caused a furor at the television station. "It's politically correct in the French media to attack Israel," says Flaysakier, who has a post-doctorate degree from Harvard.

After the incident, a cameraman remarked, "You're a Jew and you're worried because your family lives there, right?" Flaysakier suggested that question itself was anti-Semitic.

"People deny Israel's right to exist and when you point out that they are biased, they accuse you of dual allegiance," he says.

As Flaysakier notes, the media portrayal of Israel may fuel anti-Jewish sentiments. "Palestinians seem to be the poor, unarmed underdog. Unfortunately, sympathy for them also wakes up anti-Semitic feelings, which are bubbling under the surface," he says. "The press perceives the Middle East conflict in a Manichean way -- the good guys vs. the bad guys, like a Western."

"I see it getting a lot worse before it gets better," says Samuels of the Wiesenthal Center.

Another biased report focused on a French cameraman wounded in a West Bank shooting. The bullet was quickly identified as coming from a 9 mm gun, used only by Palestinians (Israelis use M16s). In the stories, broadcasters consistently claimed the bullet came "from undetermined origin."

"They never told the truth," says Flaysakier.

Such bias will continue to stir problems, many fear. "I see it getting a lot worse before it gets better," says Samuels of the Wiesenthal Center.

Ariel Abehsera, 35, an orthodontist in Strasbourg, already feels anxious about armed police guarding his son's Jewish preschool. Last month, he traveled to Israel to check out real estate, schools and professional opportunities.

The state of siege is new and uncomfortable. Abehsera, born in Morocco, socialized freely with Muslims there. Once he moved to France 12 years ago, he discovered that the relationship between the two communities was acrid, confrontational and tense.

"At universities, there is a move to isolate Jews," says Abehsera, who teaches dentistry. "I'm not packed and ready to leave France just yet," he says. "But I've cashed out of several investments and my passport is up to date."

This article was made possible by a grant from the Jewish Investigative Journalism Fund.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 20

(20)
Tomare Utsu Zo,
February 21, 2008 5:57 PM

Holocaust in the USA, Ariela?

Seriously? I think you might need to lay of the drugs. While I admit there are those here who don't like Jew's there aren't any who are in power. And Anti-Semitic actions are damn rare. To be exact, if you can name one country in the world that has been more supportive of the Jews I would be surprised.

Heck, in a community that Jews regualaly fight with (the gun community) it is fairly accepted that in a war against Isreal situation it plenty of us will grab our AR and head over to help out.

(19)
Rick,
June 30, 2004 12:00 AM

Ignorant of History

One quote in this article that caught my attention:

"Older French Jews side with de Rothschild. Mostly Ashkenazim, they minimize recent acts, clinging to optimism reinforced by their own experiences. After all, they survived the Holocaust in France. They find comfort in the fact that fewer Jews from France -- 76,000, or 25 percent -- were exterminated than from other countries."

To begin with, as if ANY number of Jews being exterminated is acceptable!

Do these Jews understand why so relatively few were exterminated in in France as compared to the rest of Europe?

The Hollerith machine (punch card machines - the modern equivalent is a database) experts that the Nazi's employed in France were largely drawn from the French Military. These individuals did everything within their power to prevent Hollerith technology from being used to compile the lists of Jews that the Nazi's needed for their extermination program. Instead they utilised the resources to compile call-up lists for a free French Army.

As a consequence the extermination program in France was largely ad-hoc and hence significantly less effective. In other European countries the Hollerith experts of the day complied completely with the Nazi demands and as a consequence significantly greater numbers of Jews were rounded up and killed. Many of these courageous French Hollerith experts ultimately paid with their own lives. (Reference: IBM and the Holocaust)

Jews understand WHAT happened, but very few understand HOW it happened. For that reason alone it would seem that history is destined to repeat itself.

(18)
Ariela,
May 30, 2004 12:00 AM

Jews in Danger!

I belive that American Jews are in extreme danger now living in America...and strongly believe there can be another holocaust. American Jews need to make aliya to Israel as soon as possible.
If you have any links with information on this subject please send them to me.
Thank you,
Ariela

(17)
Alicia Rossmark,
December 25, 2002 12:00 AM

France drives out many of its problems

I think, France is a very patriotism country, which sees itself as a kind of
model and as THE country of human rights. But it ousts many problems. Now and in the past, as well. Like in the second world war. Noone talks about the anti- semitic feelings in this time in France. At first France supported Germany very much. They combine with England, the USA and Russia only in the last years of the war. But very less french peolpe do talk about that or do even know that. And I often recognized that the french government prefers to point at other countries,where similar problems maybe are stronger,if someone trys to talk with them about the conflicts in their country. Of course, the arab people are surely very much involved in anti - semitic acts, but many french citiziens did vote for Le Pen. There is a growing of radical rightwing,but they like to close their eyes. And I agree with the comment, that burning synagogues are a very dangerous sign. They should have more attention for such things. And in the end, noone brokes up with them, if they would say: "Okay, we have a difficult situation in our land in that time, but we do care about it and try to improve the location."

(16)
Jean-Claude,
November 6, 2002 12:00 AM

Réfléchissez avant d'écrire n'importe quoi...

Cynthia Savell: Don't have a manichean view, please... I'm french and i'm not anti-semitic, nor anti-arabe. During the last years, How many jews have been killed in France because they were jew? .. The answer is 0 ... And you call France an anti-semitism country? Be serious please. The great problem is that there are large communities of arab and jewish people in France (more than in any other european country) and some of them (so stupid) try to import the "israelo-palestinian conflict" here.
And yes there are also "pure" french people who are racist or antisémite, and they are ignorant and stupid... As stupid as people who said that "all the french are anti-semetic"...

(15)
Cynthia Savell,
June 30, 2002 12:00 AM

They haven't changed...........

They haven't changed! The French have always been anti-semetic and only quiet their virulent commentary when they need the help of the United States. They, as a country, have no allegiance to anyone but themselves and I strongly suggest that anyone going to Europe avoid France.

(14)
philippe,
June 21, 2002 12:00 AM

Great article. It seems to me a lot more balanced, and complete, than the comments I may read. The rise of anti semitic incident in France, but also in other European countries, is undisputable and highly worrysome indeed. But it doesn't help to draw unreasonable comparisons with the holocaust or to claim that France is back in the 40's. It may well be the "worst spate of anti-Semitism since World War II", but the comparison stops here. One should keep in mind that France is home for the largest, by far, jewish and muslim communities in Europe. It's should not be a surprise that the current events in Israël find a special echo here. Which should not prevent our government to act more decisively against those crimes.

I also respond to scott@identityweb.com, who obviously does not know who he is talking about. Le Pen has a long history of anti semitic statement and verbal harassment. His party has always been a home for prominent anti semitic personalities. Front National conventions always display a full array of the worst anti semitic litterature available. A huge number of editorials in the Front National Press seem to date back from the 40's (actually they are sometimes written by the same editors). French jewish community concern of the Le Pen is nothing near short-sighted. In the contrary ,it's highly documented.

(13)
joseph conder,
June 21, 2002 12:00 AM

Article blurs line between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel.

Your article blurs the line between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel; these may, of course, go together but they often do not, and distinguishing them is critical. Your article acknowledges the distinction early on, but then goes on to cite examples of criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinians as examples of anti-Semitism.

(12)
Anonymous,
June 20, 2002 12:00 AM

Allez les bleus, unless you're a Jew

It hurts to see such violence against a people, especially in a country where people consider themselves "enlightened" and "cultured." As a Catholic, it hurts me even more to see such violence condoned and swept under the rug by so-called Catholic politicians grubbing for the Muslim vote.

I am an American, and have several Jewish family members. The new wave of anti-Semitism has left us wondering what the "end game" is.

I am inclined to support the position now viewed on an almost daily basis at the site of suicide bombings in Israel. As the grieving come to mourn their loss, many carry signs reading "No Arabs, No Terror." If there was ever any question whether Islam was out to conquer the world, it has been answered. Simply look to France. Best wishes to the Jews who stay.

(11)
BILL HEDRICK,
June 20, 2002 12:00 AM

France joins axis of evil

I think it is pretty obvious to objective viewers that France with it's burning synagogues, terrorist attacks on Jews, all without condemnation is basically a lost cause to civilization.

(10)
Anonymous,
June 18, 2002 12:00 AM

U.S. Has Plenty of Anti-Semitism, including D.C.

I look Jewish, and every day, more and more, there are constant signs from people on the street, in the stores, everywhere, of hatred of Jews. People spit, leave pennies where I'll find them, glare, nod their heads sharply in a kind of suggestion of spitting on the ground, take a place on the sidewalk in such a way as to try to force me to go off the sidewalk, even bump into me when I don't yield. It's right here, from all kinds of people. Race, age--it runs the gamut. I've noticed this escalating for the last five years or so.

(9)
Scott Weisman,
June 18, 2002 12:00 AM

Looking for anti-semitism in all the wrong places

It's sad, even pathetic, that most Jews instinctly recoiled in horror when Le Pen made the runoff in France's presidential election.

Le Pen indeed did say that the Holocaust was a "detail of history," but the quote is so out of context as to be meaningless. And he has even expressed remorse over making the statement at all.

Furthermore, in several recent interviews before the election, one even appearing in Ha'aretz, he expressed extremely strong support, even admiration, for Israel and its right to exist and defend itself.

Le Pen was quite clear in these interviews and articles as being against what he perceived as an assault against the traditional French culture and way of life. His biggest perceived enemy: the massive Muslim and Arab population and immigration. He also vehemently condemned anti-semitism.

So when I read the above article, even though I am a fellow Jew, I really have a hard time feeling sorry for such a short-sighted attitude that at the same time they decry and bemoan anti-semitism, they support the same old political hacks that most tolerate or condone it: Lionel Jospin and Jacque Chirac.

(8)
SAM CHAIM,
June 18, 2002 12:00 AM

France's anti-Semitism is not a passing thing to be waived aside by it's leadership.

France's Jewish community should not consider making aliyah. They must fight their governments apathetic denial of the reality. What are the options? Leave and let the hatred continue to fester? Or stay and work strategicly towards influence? In the extreme, if Jews choose to leave when they are harrassed then soon Jews the world over will have to move to Israel.

We cannot let even a small part of history repeat itself. I am a child of survivors from Poland. I know in my heart and in my head that there can be no more running the Jews out of their homes anywhere in the world. We must find a way to strengthen each other to make sure it doesn't continue.

(7)
Celine Rubin,
June 17, 2002 12:00 AM

It never ends.

When I tell people that my mother was of French decent, and my father Russian, I can only be a Russian Jew. Some people are still not educated to the fact that there are Jewish people all over the world. This article on hatered towards Jews in France, does not surprise me. It never ends.

(6)
Anonymous,
June 17, 2002 12:00 AM

Time to move on

I'm an English Jew living in Paris and I believe French Jewry should think seriously about getting out. Obviously Aliyah is a major option, but French citizens have the right to live anywhere in the European Union and they should think about Britain, Holland or even Germany.

After the le Pen vote and the shul-burnings and amid an onslaught of pro-Palestinian (and pro-Iraqi) media items, I decided to return to the UK. I have friends moving to Israel, Holland, Canada.

The article is wrong to say 'France is still expiating its dubious role in the Holocaust'. The French people had a vicious and disgusting role in the Holocaust and no expiation is taking place. France is a Catholic country that despises outsiders, with a history of anti-Semitic persecution AND six million increasingly radicalised Muslims.

United States of America: ????
Canada: ????
Australia: ????
United Kingdom: ????

(4)
azran mick,
June 17, 2002 12:00 AM

Response of a french jewish guy

Hi,by reading your analyse about the situation, in france, i agree with you at 90 %.
In fact, being religious, and living in the tony 16th arrondissement, the Park Avenue of Paris, i' m really not the person to care about. Here the situation is very safe, I mean, when you don't show any outsign that you are jewish (it's a non sens). But I can tell you that in the eyes of commun people, sthg have changed. I could not say that every body is antisemitic, but one who is antisemitic, don't bother to show him publicly. In fact, there is a total confusion, holded alive by the politic of 'no doing' of the government, between antisemitism and antisionism. It's fashion to sau openly that you are antisionism, because....(i don't enter in the details), so antisemitism become more mondain, and shameless. I don't fear for my own security, but events in the middle east could quickly change the situation.
Heads of jewish organisations in france play their role by reassure the population. We are no dupe and we have to be be vigilant and to face our problem society, that the Word Jewish, is becoming more difficult to bear.

But your role, jewishs of america, is to claim Openly and strongly your disaprouval of this situation, and not to follow the declarations ' politic' of the head of jewish community.
I hope God 'll send the redemption as soon as possible, fur us for you and for our brothers in israel Amen.

(3)
,
June 17, 2002 12:00 AM

good report

i live in morocco, i go to france often, i know what happens there. i am happy to know that you have written about anti-semitism in france, it is in the entire world, Americans should not be shielded from theses facts. Once again, great article, thanks for letting others know.

(2)
Anonymous,
June 17, 2002 12:00 AM

they will never see me or my money in france .also boycotting french product

(1)
Anonymous,
June 16, 2002 12:00 AM

It will not blow over. It will get worse not better.

Do not cower. Do not be ashamed of being a Jew. Organize for self-defense. Be defiant to insults and assaults. Cringing and slinking away in shame are seen as weakness. With the suicidal immigration policy of France, allowing hordes of fast-breeding Moslems in, there is little hope hat things will get better. French anti-Semitism is well and becoming more open. Leftists apologists are wrong. Making friends with those who hate and beat us paves the way for forcible extinction. No quarter to those who would see us dead.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!